Dark Knight Shooting: 12 Dead, 58 Injured

"The fire rises!" ~ Bane, The Dark Knight Rises, 2012.

A mass shooting occurred on July 20, 2012, at a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, leaving 12 dead and 58 injured (some gravely), 15 minutes after the film began. The active shooting took place in Theater No. 9 at the Century 16 Movie Theaters, located at 14300 East Alameda Avenue in Aurora, Colorado. (News reports have said as high as 15 are dead, but as of 8:00 AM Eastern, CNN is reporting 12 have been killed. Double-counting caused the 15 count.)

The suspect (shown at top; TMZ discovered the colored-hair image) has been identified as recent Aurora resident James Eagan Holmes (born December 13, 1987), according to federal authorities. His parents live in San Diego. Spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery says 24-year-old James Holmes was a doctoral student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver until last month. She did not know when he started school or why he withdrew. He apparently was a former biology (neuroscience) student in southern California.

Early on the morning of Friday, July 20, 2012, mountain time, at least 50 people were injured, twelve were killed, in a shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, as the new Batman movie screened. The number was confirmed by Police Chief Dan Oates.
A 24-year-old suspect is in custody, Oates told reporters. "We don't have any evidence of a second gunman," he said.

Brenda Stuart, of 850 KOA radio, said that "a lot of people thought the gunshots were part of the movie. They heard what they thought were firecrackers. Then they saw the bullets flying."

Eyewitnesses reported the assailant appeared to be wearing a gas mask, body armor, similar to how the film's villain Bane did too. Witnesses say the suspect was dressed all in black, with a riot helmet, goggles, and a gas mask. Tear gas went off in the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center following the gunfire. Reports indicated bullets had passed from one theater into an adjoining one.

Police reported during the afternoon that Holmes did not look like Bane, after all. He first identified himself as "I am the Joker," and had his head and goatee hair painted red and did, somewhat, resemble (perhaps? under his body armor?) the Joker during attack.

The shooting scene was hectic. Three area hospitals were receiving victims, and police at the scene were taking victims to hospitals in their cars, not just waiting for ambulances. Nicole Williams, with the Swedish Medical Center of Englewood, Colorado, told KUSA-Denver the hospital was alerted to a mass-casualty incident at 1:15 a.m. local time Friday (3:15 a.m. ET).

The suspect James Holmes was arrested at the back of the theater, near a car (with Tennessee plates), with a gas mark, two handguns, an "AK-type" firearm and a shotgun.

The suspect James Holmes made statements that he had explosives at his apartment, which is located at Paris Street and 17th Avenue in North Aurora. A bomb squad was on site. There are reports this location is booby-trapped.

At the Twilight Language blog, yesterday, I indicated we should be alert to a possible violent incident occurring on July 20, 2012.

Andrew Griffin's excellent overview, "Midnight Massacre in Theatre No. 9," at the Red Dirt Report is also worthy of reading.

Please now find more, historically, here: Joker Copycats: 2008-2012.

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Victims

Jessica Ghawi/Jessica Redfield, killed in Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting (NY Daily News)

The shooting at the food court at the Eaton Centre mall, in Toronto, Canada, took place on Saturday evening, June 02, 2012. Several people were wounded. Media accounts told of one dead, and seven wounded. One high profile witness was Blue Jays 3B Brett Lawrie. One of the dead victims of the Aurora shooting has turned out to be Jessica Ghawi, an aspiring sportscaster, who happened to almost have been shot during the Eaton shooting. Her immediate pre-The Dark Knight Rises tweets have been published.

A six-year-old is said to be among the fatalities.

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Synchromystic Threads


"It is always darkest just before the day dawneth." - English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller (1608 – 1661)

(Video referral: RPJ/Miguel)

Harvey Dent:

"The night is darkest just before the dawn. 

And I promise you, the dawn is coming." 

~ The Dark Knight (2008)

The name Aurora means "dawn." The Roman goddess of the dawn was named Aurora, and her siblings are Sol (Sun) and Luna (Moon). These names in Latin and Greek are Aurora/Eos, Sol/Helios, Luna/Selene.

Anne Hathaway/Catwoman's public persona character in The Dark Knight Rises is named Selene Kyle (Selene = Moon, Kyle = Strait of Water/River).


Aurora is an extremely popular name in Norway, being the 16th most used in 2006.

Aurora is a suburb less than 10 miles east of downtown Denver. Aurora originated in the 1880s as the town of Fletcher, taking its name from Denver businessman Donald Fletcher, who saw it as a real estate opportunity. He and his partners staked out four square miles east of Denver, but the town - and Colorado - struggled mightily after the Silver Crash of 1893. At that point Fletcher skipped town, leaving the community with a huge water debt. Inhabitants decided to rename the town Aurora in 1907, after one of the subdivisions composing the town.

Colorado is of Spanish origin, meaning "colored red" and "ruddy."

The memories of Columbine (20 miles away from Aurora) are being recalled by the Colorado and other media.

The Aurora name is familiar to investigators of the unexplained due to the the Aurora, Texas, Airship incident that reportedly occurred on April 17, 1897, in Aurora, Texas, a small town in the northwest corner of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The incident (similar to the more famous Roswell UFO incident 50 years later) allegedly resulted in a fatality from the crash. The alleged alien body is reportedly buried in an unmarked grave at the local Aurora cemetery.

The suspect's name translates as James = "he who supplants," Eagan = "fiery," and Holmes = "holly" and/or "island in the river."

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Personal Note

Why am I up this early, as Willie Geist often asks, specifically reporting on this event? Well, I was startled from my sleep, at 4:27 am Eastern, on this morning of July 20th, by what sounded like someone calling my name; I literally thought there was a person in my bedroom. Then I checked the news and heard about the Aurora shooting. I have never had such a startling awakening. Yes, I am open to Forteana, but I do not consider myself involved in psychic phenomena, per se, so this was an unusual personal incident for me.

Fayetteville Shooting

Army investigators look for evidence in a field where a soldier from the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade shot and killed another member of the unit and then turned the gun on himself during a unit safety briefing on 

Thursday, June 28, 2012.

Fort Bragg is located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A Fort Bragg soldier was killed and two others, including the gunman, injured Thursday, June 28, 2012, in a shooting on post, officials said.

A soldier from the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade shot another member of the unit and then turned the gun on himself outside in a field during a unit safety briefing around 3:30 p.m., public affairs officer Col. Kevin Arata said.

The shooter was in custody Thursday night at undisclosed hospital. A third soldier suffered minor injuries.

Fort Bragg officials have not released the names or ranks of those involved or indicated what might have led to the shooting.

More here.

This appears to me another manifestation of the Fayette Factor at work.

Seattle Shooting Leaves 6 Dead: Mystery Man Shoots Self

Further Update ~ Thursday a.m., the death toll was increased to a total of six. A man walked into an arts cafe near a Seattle university and opened fire, fatally wounding four people. Then he later killed a woman during a carjacking before shooting himself. Six people are dead.


Breaking Update ~ The LA Times is reporting late on Wednesday the following:

An explosive day of violence ended Wednesday when a man believed to be the one who shot five people in a university district cafe and a woman in a downtown parking lot knelt down in the street when surrounded by police and shot himself in the head.
“We strongly believe that this is the person that committed the homicides,” Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel told reporters after the dramatic face-off in West Seattle. The shootings left four people dead and two critically injured.

A police source told the Seattle Times that the suspect has been identified as Ian Lee Stawicki, 40, of Seattle, whose family said he had mental problems that prompted them to fear something could go wrong. 

Victims identified: Drew Keriakedes, a/k/a Shmootzi the Clod, (front) & Joe Albanese, a/k/a Meshuguna Joe, (back left) of God's Favorite Beefcake. Image via God's Favorite Beefcake's Facebook.


Earlier details:
A gunman opened fire at a cafe in Seattle's University district Wednesday, May 30, 2012, killing two people and wounding three others.
"Roosevelt way shooter was seen running away from the scene northbound," police wrote. "He was armed with a gun."
One victim has life threatening injuries, and two others are seriously wounded, according to the police department's Twitter feed.
The shootings occurred at Cafe Racer on Roosevelt Way in northern Seattle about 11:00 a.m., police said.

The suspect is described as a white male, between 30 and 40 years old, with a medium build, brown hair and a goatee or beard, police said. Police are searching for the gunman, described as a man in his 30s originally said to be wearing dark clothes (literally a "man in black killer"?), that did not turn out to be accurate. Later reports told of the killer having a plaid shirt and dark pants. (Recall that John A. Keel often wrote of mystery men, besides those dressed in black and dark clothing, who were often seen wearing lumberjack checked shirts and sports plaid shirts.)

But video footage show the suspected killer in the middle of the shooting scene wearing brown pants and a bluish jacket (see above). 
During the manhunt, police responded to another fatal shooting in downtown Seattle. Police say a man shot a woman during an apparent carjacking and fled in a black SUV. The woman died at the scene.
The earlier shooting took place at Cafe Racer (at 5828 Roosevelt Way Northeast), a restaurant and music venue north of the University of Washington.
Friends of the deceased said the men, named Joe and Drew, were both in their 40s or early 50s.  Drew was described as the “godfather of Café Racer” who was a sword swallower, fire breather and was a big presence in the burlesque community.  Both men were members of the band God’s Favorite Beefcake, which had played at the Folklife Festival on Saturday.

Police say one of the wounded has life threatening injuries and two are in critical condition.
Evan Hill, who lives above the building were the cafe shooting happened, said the cafe was an artists collective and performance space.
"Its the strangest place to think of a shooting," Hill said.


Nearby Roosevelt High School has been locked down during the manhunt. Seattle School District spokeswoman Teresa Wippel says students also are locked inside Eckstein Middle School and Greenlake Elementary.

The school is named after Theodore Roosevelt; the school's team, the Rough Riders, is named after Roosevelt's famous military regiment. It subsequently gave its name to the Roosevelt neighborhood and nearby Roosevelt Way N.E.

Replica of Roosevelt Hotel, Seattle.

The location of the Cafe Racer on Roosevelt Way reminds me of the recent site (Roosevelt Avenue) of the bank hostage situation in Indiana, which only ended when the suspect killed himself.

Florence Attack by Author of The Key of Chaos

Leige, Belgium, was shaken by a seemingly random lone individual's attack on the city. Something similar happened in Florence, Italy, on the same day.

Photos from Leige (above) and Florence (below) looked eerily similar on 13 December 2011 (13.12.11). 

The killer in Italy was a right-wing author who published a newsletter for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien.

An Italian far-right author shot dead two Senegalese vendors and wounded three in Florence on Tuesday (13 Dec. 2011) before killing himself in a daylight shooting spree that prompted outpourings of grief in the historic city.

Witnesses said they saw the gunman calmly getting out of a car at a street market on Piazza Dalmazia, north of the city centre, and firing off three shots that instantly killed two vendors and seriously wounded a third.

The white assailant was identified by authorities as 50-year-old Gianluca Casseri. 

The International Business Times ran this profile of Casseri:

Expert of right-wing European culture and passionate about fantasy and conspiracy books, the middle-aged man published many articles on the Germanic folklore, before founding literary magazine La Soglia or The Threshold in 2001. Issues included monographic volumes about Conan, Dracula, Tolkien, Lovecraft and other fantasy authors.
His favourite authors were Ezra Pound, Friedrich Nietzsche and Julius Evola. In 2010 he wrote along with Enrico Rulli Le chiavi del caos or The Key of Chaos, described as "a kind of alchemical play in the magic Prague of Emperor Rudolf II".
Initial reports suggest that he belonged to Casa Pound movement.
Named after the American Fascist poet Ezra Pound, Casa Pound is a neo-fascist movement born in Rome in 2003, when it squatted a state-owned building in the central neighbourhood of Esquilino. It soon developed as a national organisation and then proceeded to branch out into numerous cities in the country.

After Casseri's initial attack, he moved on to the San Lorenzo market in the centre -- a popular destination for the thousands of tourists who visit Florence every day -- where he wounded two more vendors.

Casseri then turned the gun -- a Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver according to news reports -- on himself after he was surrounded by police.

Around 200 Senegalese marched through the city in an angry protest after the shootings, shouting "Shame!" and "Racists!"

Hundreds of immigrants were later seen praying on their knees in tears in front of Florence's famous cathedral.

"The heart of Florence is crying today," Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi said in a Twitter message, declaring the city would hold a day of mourning Wednesday and would pay to repatriate the bodies to Senegal.

"I think the pain for the lives that have been cut short is not only for the Senegalese community but for all the citizens of our city," Renzi said.

International Cooperation and Integration Minister Andrea Riccardi and a Senegalese imam will attend a ceremony at Florence city hall on Wednesday.

"The Senegalese are good people, people who never get into trouble, who work every day," one Senegalese man told news channel SkyTG24.

Another man said: "These lads who were killed were only earning money for their wives, their fathers, their children."

Roccangelo Tritto, a spokesman for local Carabinieri police, told AFP that the man wounded at Piazza Dalmazia would live but remain paralysed for life.

The other two men were also in a serious condition -- one with a wound to the abdomen and another shot in the chest.

Casseri was the author of fantasy novels including "The Key of Chaos" about a wizard, a mathematician and an alchemist, which enjoyed some popularity.

He also wrote an academic paper about Dracula folklore and was the editor of a niche magazine about fantasy and horror fiction and comics.

Casseri lived on his own in the Tuscan countryside near Pistoia.

He was also a member of Casa Pound, a right-wing community group that is seen as more intellectual than other far-right organisations.

"He was a bit strange, a bit of a loner but he didn't seem crazy. He was living in his own world," said Fabio Barsanti, a regional coordinator for Casa Pound.

"He didn't seem capable of doing something like this," he said, adding: "We are against any type of violence. We consider the Senegalese humans like us."

Barsanti said Casseri was known locally mostly as a World War I buff.

While Casa Pound distanced itself from Casseri's actions, left-wingers were quick to pin the blame on a climate of racism in the country.

Walter Veltroni, a lawmaker from the centre-left Democratic Party, said the shootings were "a terrorist attack by a right-wing extremist."

"What happened in Florence is the product of a climate of intolerance against foreigners that has grown over the years," he said.

Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left, Ecology and Liberty party, condemned what he said was "a racist and fascist Italy that sows hatred."

At the scene of the first shooting in Piazza Dalmazia, eyewitnesses quoted by Italian media said they were in shock and a newspaper seller said the gunman told him: "Get out of the way or I'll bump you off next."

"I heard the shots but I thought they were fireworks. Then I turned around and I saw three men on the ground in a pool of blood," one vendor said.

Another man said: "There are often Senegalese guys here who sell the usual stuff, they don't bother anyone and no one was expecting this."

African vendors can be seen on the streets of Italy's main cities selling sculptures, trinkets and fake designer handbags. They are often selling their wares illegally but are popular with tourists and local residents.

Last summer in Norway, a Norwegian man apparently motivated by a hatred of immigrants went on a bomb and shooting spree that killed 77 people.

Arkansas Shooting

According to Van Buren Police a lone shooter entered the Crawford County Courthouse in Van Buren, Arkansas, around 4:00 pm.  Police say the suspect then shot a secretary who witnesses have identified as Vicki Jones.

The shooter was shot and injured by Van Buren Police.  Both have been transported to the hospital for their injuries.  A Van Buren police officer was also injured by flying glass as police exchanged gunfire with the shooter.  Van Buren Police are currently not releasing the name of the suspect.

Lt. Brent Grill with the Van Buren Police Department said police were called to a disturbance at the courthouse, and one person was possibly shot inside. A gun battle involving the suspect, VBPD and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department then ensued outside the courthouse, Grill said.

Sebastian County deputies are at a local hospital guarding the suspect, who is undergoing surgery, Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said.

Elaine Stanfield, administrative assistant to County Judge John Hall, said she first heard the shots at 3:30 p.m.

“I heard girls screaming upstairs; this all started upstairs,” said Stanfield, whose office is on the first floor of the courthouse. “I pushed the panic button — everyone has panic button under their desk that goes to sheriff’s office — and I picked up the phone and dialed 911.”

The suspect shot off multiple rounds while moving, Grill said, striking a nearby Van Buren police cruiser. Veteran Van Buren police officer Dave Passen received minor injuries from glass, Grill said.

Stanfield says she saw the suspect, a “heavyset man between 35-40 years of age” who was wearing a long duster style coat. Stanfield was still on the phone with 911 and heard a dispatcher say “our guys are being fired at,” then heard the shooting stop.

“This has changed our lives,” Stanfield said.

Fort Smith police Capt. Jarrard Copeland said a call about the shooting came through dispatch at 3:44 p.m.; 20 to 30 officers from Fort Smith were dispatched to the scene.

Hollenbeck said security at courthouses in Fort Smith and Greenwood has been increased as a precautionary measure until law enforcement officials can confirm no one else is involved in the courthouse shooting in Crawford County.

County Judge John Hall says the courthouse will be closed Wednesday but will try to open Thursday morning.

“We’re probably looking at getting security guards,” Hall said. “We have six entrances at the courthouse. Yes, there is going to be a change in security. The days to free access to the oldest courthouse west of the Mississippi is over.”

Crawford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,948. The county seat is Van Buren. Crawford County was formed on October 18, 1820, and named for William H. Crawford who was United States Secretary of War in 1815.

Thousands of self-claimed "Western Band of Cherokee" (or Arkansas Cherokees) fought for state and federal recognition as a political entity of Native Americans. Crawford County was historically part of the Cherokee Nation, which lost its tribal sovereignty status as a result of the U.S. Civil war in the 1860s. The Cherokee Nation was subsequently relocated to the west in the present-day state of Oklahoma.

The area was settled by David Boyd and Thomas Martin in the year 1818. After Arkansas became a territory in 1819 Daniel and Thomas Phillips constructed a lumber yard in the community to serve as a fuel depot for river traffic. In the year 1831 a post office was constructed for the community, at the time known as Phillips Landing. This post office was named after the newly appointed Secretary of State, Martin Van Buren. The city of Van Buren is a result of that legacy.

Allah Akbar, Blackbirds, and Frankfurt

Two U.S. airmen have been killed in a shooting in front of Terminal 2 of the Frankfurt airport, Germany. AP.

Police stand around a covered U.S. military bus at Frankfurt airport after the shooting. Photo: Boris Roessler. 

A shooter has killed two airmen and wounded two other airmen in an attack on a US Air Force bus at the Frankfurt, Germany airport, on March 2, 2011.

"What we know is that a man opened fire on a bus with U.S. soldiers that was standing in front of Terminal 2 at Frankfurt airport," said a Frankfurt police spokesman.


Major Beverly Mock, a U.S. Air Force spokeswoman in Europe, said all four people shot were airmen.


A source told Fox News that the shooter yelled "Allah Akbar" when opening fire on the U.S. military personnel. He then dropped his gun at the scene, ran into the terminal and was subdued.


“Allah Akbar" is translated as "God is [the] Greatest," or "God is Great." It is a common Islamic Arabic expression, used as both an informal expression of faith and as a formal declaration.


After 9/11, the FBI released a letter reportedly handwritten by the hijackers and found in three separate copies on 9/11 
~ at Dulles, 
~ at the Pennsylvania crash site, and 
~ in Mohamed Atta's suitcase.

It included a checklist of final reminders for the 9/11 hijackers, including an excerpt which reads: "When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers." 
Also, in the cockpit voice recorders found at the crash site of Flight 93, the hijackers are heard to be reciting the "Allah Akbar" as the plane plummeted toward the ground.

When in March 2002 Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat of Hamas, also known as "Umm Nidal" (and subsequently elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council), learned that her adolescent son died on a suicide mission in which he killed five teenagers, she celebrated by proclaiming "Allahu Akbar!" and giving out boxes of halva and chocolates.

In 2003, when Imam Samudra became the second Bali bomber from a violent Islamist group to be sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, Samudra chanted during his sentence, "Allahu Akbar."

In 2004, in an execution video of Nick Berg being beheaded in Iraq, as one man sawed off Berg's head the other captors shouted: "Allahu Akbar!"

In the 2007 Fort Dix attack plot, a group of radical Islamists who were convicted of plotting an attack on the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey had videotaped themselves shooting weapons and shouting "Allahu Akbar."

In 2008, Aafia Siddiqui yelled "Allah Akbar" as she fired at U.S. interrogators.

During the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, witnesses reported that gunman Nidal Malik Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others.

Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad smiled and said "Allahu Akbar" after receiving a life sentence in 2010 for his attempted bombing.


After the Germany shooting today, a 21-year-old man was arrested.  He is reportedly from Kosovo.  Kosovo is a disputed territory, created following the collapse of Yugoslavia.

The name of his country, Kosovo (Serbian: Косово, pronounced [ˈkɔsɔvɔ]), is the Serbian neuter possessive adjective of kos, 

which means "blackbird," an ellipsis for Kosovo Polje "field of the blackbirds," the site of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo Field. The name of the field was applied to an Ottoman province created in 1864.


In the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, Ottoman forces defeated a coalition of Serbs, Albanians, and Bosnians led by the Tsar Lazar Hrebeljanović. Soon after, parts of Serbia accepted Turkish vassalage and Lazar's daughter was married to the Sultan to seal the peace. By 1455, it was finally and fully conquered by the Ottoman Empire.


Intriguingly, considering what I previously wrote about the date of February 17th, Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008.

Police officers investigate the crime scene after a gunman fired shots at U.S. Air Force personnel. Photo: Michael Probst.

Kosovo Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi told the Associated Press that German police identified the suspect as Arif Uka, a Kosovo citizen from the northern town of Mitrovica, an ethnic Albanian who has been living in Germany for some time.

"This is a devastating and a tragic event," Rexhepi said. "We are trying to find out, was this something that was organized or what was the nature of the attack."

Mitrovica has been a flashpoint for tensions between Serbians and ethnic Albanians since the city was divided by a NATO bombing campaign in 1999. Although U.S. troops are based in the southeast of Kosovo, they have been called to help alliance forces and local security forces restore order in Mitrovica in recent years.

A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABC News the attack was likely terror-related. Uka is another "dot in the matrix" of a rising threat of fundamentalist terror originating in the Balkans, the official said. 

Another man from Uka's home town in Kosovo that was among those arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina, on terrorism charges in July 2009.

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Blackbird .. Evan Rachel Wood

Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these sunken eyes and learn to see All your life You were only waiting for this moment to be free. Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night. Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night. Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise You were only waiting for this moment to arise You were only waiting for this moment to arise

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 2010, over 5000 red-winged blackbirds fell from the skies around Beebe, Arkansas.